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U.S. redefines democracy for worldDear editor, I am appalled at the misdirection of U.S. policy in two areas this week and surprised that the incidents have not been able to get a rise out of an otherwise intelligent student body. Perhaps the Bush-Clinton loyalty feud is stopping some people from examining this administration's policies with an open mind. The recent declaration of oil exploration rights in Alaska is nothing short of a stepping up of the war by the colonizers against the natives. The motives, we have been told, are economic, and outweigh the environmental concerns. However, the motives for the systematic genocide of native Americans were always economic. How can anyone seriously expect a reconciliation of pride among native Americans when such blatant repetition of the history of destruction of the native culture is calmly reinforced, with little opposition from most American citizens? No one is even considering the rights of the Alaskan natives to decide for themselves the best way to preserve their habitat, just as the rights of the natives were of little consequence over two hundred years ago. Surprisingly, such overbearingly racist actions can be approved with little opposition in the America of the 21st century. The other action, being debated in the U.S. Congress, is the denial of payment of back-dues, $582 million, to the United Nations till such time that the United States is reinstated on the Human Rights Commission. How can any American expect to be taken seriously when supporting "democracy" if the United States uses economic pressure in the United Nations to reverse a democratic decision? The United States ran in its pool and asked for votes to be placed on the Commission – it lost. By using the monetary dues as a way of pushing the United Nations around, the U.S. Congress is sending out a clear signal to the world – screw democracy. American interests come first, always, and by any means possible. ---------------------- Abhinav Aima Palestinian struggle overlookedEditor, When looking at your "Briefly" page of Thursday, May 10, I instantly noticed the main item on the page, which highlighted the story of two Israeli teenagers murdered in a West Bank cave. My first observation about the content of the news item is that the story fully blamed the Palestinians for the killing of the teenagers. But it did not mention that the two teenagers might have been victims of the Israeli system itself, which has encouraged their families to live on stolen Palestinian land and within the boundaries of illegally built Israeli settlements. In effect, this provoked the anger of many Palestinians who lost their land and homes for the construction of such settlements! My second observation about this news item was the fact that it was published only two days after the burial of an innocent Palestinian infant. This infant was killed while playing with her mother in the family's courtyard after being hit by an Israeli tank shell that was fired indiscriminately at the refugee camp where she lived. What is so interesting, but not surprising to me, is the fact that your paper never published the photo of the innocent Palestinian child, nor did it even highlight the news of her merciless killing at the hands of the Israeli army. The reason cannot be that the child's story was not available on the wire, because it was indeed widely available and extensively covered by many news agencies around the World! The reason for not publishing the infant's story in your paper and in many other major U.S. media outlets, while in the mean time allocating a large amount of space for the story of the two Israeli teenagers, a racist one. For it seems to be that in the Western media's judgment, not all people are equal; and hence, a European Israeli has more value and right to live in peace than a Palestinian Arab. Abdulbaset Abdulla |